The present invention relates to parting and grooving tool with clamping arrangements.
Certain machining operations, such as cut-off and grooving operations, typically involve the use of a thin toolholder having a pocket formed therein in which an insert is received. Ordinarily, the insert is held in the pocket between an elastic arm of the toolholder and the rest of the toolholder body. The insert is received in the pocket by some form of tool that pries the elastic arm to open the pocket wider, and then the insert is clamped in the pocket when the tool is removed. The tools for opening the insert-receiving pockets tend to be complex and difficult to position, making the task of indexing or replacing inserts in a toolholder difficult. An example of a conventional tool is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,537, or U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,930; the preamble of claim 1 being based the latter.
It is desirable to provide a toolholder that provides a simple structure to facilitate and improve clamping of inserts in a pocket of the toolholder.